Sports
Fair or Foul? A Guide to the Fight Over Mr. Cub's Last Wishes
Cubs legend Ernie Banks died last month, and his family and the woman who cared for him are locked in battle. Here's what you need to know.
Ernie Banks, the legendary Chicago Cubs slugger, built a reputation as being a constantly enjoyable bright spot for fans, even when he played on miserably bad teams throughout the ’50s and ‘60s.
It was that demeanor that earned him the nickname “Mr. Sunshine,” to go along with his more familiar nom de base-ball: ”Mr. Cub.”
That’s why the escalating battle over the final wishes of Banks—who died of an apparent heart attack in January at the age of 83—is a sad epilogue to a player who brought a genuine and contagious joie de vivire to the game.
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Who’s feuding?
This fight centers around Regina Rice, Banks’ caretaker later in his life, squaring off against the baseball player’s estranged fourth wife, Elizabeth, and his twin sons, Jerry and Joey.
In court documents obtained by The Associated Press, Banks was in the process of divorcing Elizabeth because of irreconcilable differences, citing “extreme and repeated acts of mental cruelty” by his wife that led to an “irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.”
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Why are they feuding?
Ultimately, the two parties have been battling over Banks’s final wishes. That’s ranged from who inherits his estate to how his remains should be handled.
When it came to the latter, Elizabeth Banks got a court order that stopped Rice from cremating Banks’s body and spreading his ashes over Wrigley Field ”with the wind blowing out,” something he told a Chicago Tribune reporter almost 20 years ago.
Banks’s will, however, did not stipulate what to do with his remains, the AP reported, and Elizabeth Banks claims her husband had been joking about having his ashes scattered across the field he played for 19 seasons, according to FoxNews.com.
Marc Bogen, an attorney representing Elizabeth Banks, told the AP on Feb. 17 that his client “acted in accordance with that court order and buried her husband.’’
How bad has the feuding been?
Although Elizabeth Banks’s lawyers claim Mr. Cub is buried at Graceland Cemetery, which is near Wrigley, no one has been able to confirm that.
“[A] person who answered the phone at Graceland but declined to give her name said Banks is not buried there. And Dave Babczak, manager of Donnellan Funeral Home that handled the logistics surrounding the funeral service Jan. 31, declined to comment on the dispute, saying only that Banks’ remains were no longer at the funeral home.”
What’s the latest dispute over?
A new will drawn up late last year and who inherits what from the Banks estate.
The new will was signed Oct. 17, 2014, turns over Banks’s assests to Rice, and it contains this blunt statement from Banks, according to FoxNews.com:
“I am making no provisions under this will for wife or my children, not for a lack of love and affection for them and for reasons best known to them.”
This new document came as a surprise to the family members, and the twins are fighting its validity and Rice’s power of attorney concerning his health care later in his life, the FoxNews.com report added. In fact, the family is claiming Rice took advantage of Banks during his declining years and as dementia set in, according to a Chicago Tribune report.
What’s next?
Elizabeth Banks requested for a hearing Feb. 9 to challenge the validity of her husband’s will and has asked for a list from Rice of all of Banks’s assets, the Tribune reported. A judge has yet to rule on that request.
>>For more details about this feud, check out the following articles:
>>More Patch coverage on Ernie Banks’s death
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